Gone with the wind red dress

While Gone with the Wind was released many years ago, we never fail to discover something new. The stunning dresses of this film are among the many costumes created by Walter Plunkett and John Frederics. The one piece we all wish we had: the red dress worn by Scarlett O'Hara, played by the incredible Vivien Leigh in the scene for Ashley Wilkes birthday.

Unexpected style

The hardest part for the costume designers on the set of Gone with the Wind was covering fifteen years of costume history. The beginning of the film is set in the southern state of Georgia during the year 1861. In the scene where Scarlett O'Hara goes to Ashley Wilkes' birthday alone, Vivien Leigh wears a scarlet velvet dress embroidered with glass beads. Rather than an outfit with a corset and maxi petticoats, the cut of her dress is a close-body fit, a sensual and polar-opposite piece in comparison to what the other women in the room are wearing. With her plunging sweetheart neckline and burgundy ostrich feathers, Scarlett O’Hara steals the show. Set in the 1870s, this scene takes place during what is known as the Golden Age of America, or the Gilded Age. During this time, women's fashion begins to move away from ruffles, large hoop skirts and light fabrics to form fitting designs made of rich materials like velvet. During this era, the female dress code is governed by strict rules that Scarlett breaks when she arrives dressed in her incredible yet daring dress in the midst of a family celebration. Forced by Rhett Butler to go, the character played by Clark Gable deliberately chooses a scandalous outfit for her. Scarlett O’Hara holds her head up high despite the reaction of others. 

Vivien Leigh dans “Autant en emporte le vent”

Scandalous red

Just as important as the cut of the dress, the color says a lot about Walter Plunkett as a costume designer. The star of Victor Fleming has an incredible wardrobe that we will see evolve throughout the film depending on her age and the scene. The costume designer gives some clues about Scarlett O’Hara's state of mind through her outfits and in the colors she chooses. Scarlett lives up to her name because in movies the color red is often used to symbolize love, passion and scandal. From Ashley Wilkes, to Rhett Butler and Franck Kennedy, every time Vivien Leigh wears a scandalous outfit, she seeks a man's attention or rekindles a flame. In Walter Plunkett's hand-sewn velvet dress scene the scorching scarlet is a testament both to the stars naturally flirtatious character and her ability to stir up trouble wherever she goes. 

Conservation of Scarlett O’Hara's dress

In 2010, the Harry Ransom Center in Texas where much of David Selznick's archives are kept, launched an appeal for funds to start the restoration of five outfits worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind. Among them was the scarlet dress which got some revamping done before the film's 75th anniversary celebrated in 2014. The extravagant outfit worn by the British actress has been decked out over the years with new feathers adding to its allure and appearance. The costume crew at the Harry Ransom Center also removed extra fabric weight from inside the dress to allow more movement. These additions are often found in haute couture skirts from over the decades. The two-year restorations led to the dress being sent to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for the exhibition in 2012 dedicated to Hollywood’s most iconic costumes, then to Austin for the film’s 75th anniversary.

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Scarlet’s (Vivienne Leigh) bold entrance to Ashley’s surprise birthday party, the awkwardness of the juxtaposition of Scarlet in the elaborate gown in the relatively plain hallway demonstrates perfectly the situation without the use of words.

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